Magnetic separator.



J. WEATHBRBY, J11. &; A. J. DULL.

MAGNETIC SEPARATOR.

APPLICATION FILED M10. 21, 1908.

Patented Apr. 23, 1912.

avwonfod @vitwzoam J -ndmu,

JOSEPH WEATHERBY, JR... A

ATDEERJV J. BULL. GI? tiJiHRISBURG. PENNSYLVANIA; THREE? ASSLG N611 TO SALT) BULL.

Application filed December 2].. 1808.

Be it knmvn that we. ,isicrn \lria'rumnsr. Jr. and Axmnciv rl. iltm. ut' Harrisburg. Dauphin t'euntv, Perms rlvania. have invented eertain new and useful Imprtwements in Magnetie h el'iaraturs; and We du hereby derlare the t'nllmving to he a full. clear, and exat'tl dest'ri itiun (it the same. l'tffQlflK'C heing had tn the int-tnnpairving drawin s, forming a part of this speeitiratirin. and m the figures and letters at reference marked thereon.

This inventinn relates to the separation or t-lassifiratiun of materials. partit-ularly minerals. having dill'erent magnetic HHHtLP- tihility nr permeahilitv. the nhjeet nt' the in rentiun heing to improve the art and apparatns in utilizing the turees 0f magnetism and momentum n1 eentrit'ugal t'tiree tit-ring in the same diret-tinn as at'tive agents in. etterting the separatinn at the mere perinellltltl tir sust-eptihle materials truth the less liermeahle ur susceptible materials.

The invt'ntiun euntemlilate the ltltlfltl'ivtinn of the minnninnted materials into a magnetie field nt' sntlirient density to prednee a tendent'v in the materials to separate. therelrv producing a greater or less movement til the mere permeable or sunt-t-ptihle material in the diret-tinn nt' ennrereent-e (it the lines (it magg'netitt'nree and in immediately augmenting suelt mnvement nl' the said more s Hltllilllilt, material by the (Hiltllltlttt aetinn tn" the magnetit' field and ventrit'ngal tel-re. and in su plementing sneh at'tion lrv the furl-e Ill gravity in aiding the nmvement (it the mere snst-eptihle material tmvartl the diseharge point.

The inventiun further emiteni ilates the separation u'l' materials til' the eharaeter speeitied l v snlvieeting them to the aetinn (if a field of sustained lnagnetie intensit nlntt' of progressively increasing area from the tranee tmvard the dist'harge point, \vherelrr the hndit-s ut' materials heenme mere and were altenna tl and liability 0t nieehanilfal intert'eren e ml earh with the nther tending to prevent taratien ll-, irugrressivelv rednt'ed.

tn the pra ti 'al enihntlinient at the apparatus t nt earryinethe pre ent inventiun llttii pesite sign, the entrant-e being termed at the.

Specificatimt or Letters; Patent.

Hills (guy m),

Serial Ne. 163.6 .45.

' apex and the diseharge at the base of the tlHilt'lll niagnetit: lield thus produced.

White the embudiment ut the. invention itlnstrated in the aeeunipartying drawings, and tu he hereinafter speritit-ally deserihed, E0 is a n'el'erretl emlimliment, it will be understuud that nieehanisn'i fur earnving the. pris ent inventinn intu practice is susceptible of man inratitieatinns which will at nnee suggest then'tselves to those skilled in the art, and hence it is not desired to limit the inventinn to any particular mechanism.

Referring to the accompanying drawings: l ignre t is a transverse section in a. vertical plane thrnnph the apparatus \vherewith the present invention may he carried intu practiee. Fig. 2 is a detail seetinn til a purtinn (if the enter terminal nt the magnetic eirenit. and illustrating the spiral fur giving a line distribution of the magnetic lines 0f fortae.

in the term (if apparatus illustrated. the terminals of the magnetiteireuit lit-tween whirl) the lnagnetie separating field is termed are (:lt'll til eunieal .t'nrmatinn. thus;

the inner terminal takes the term of a St) mine whieh ma he ennvvnientlv mounted 011 ml ennstituttnne pole pieee of an eleetrrr magnet t-ure B. magnetism being indueed in the ewe and pole piece by a suitahle mil.

( nt approved design. The ether termina is formed with an internal ("Unlttl surface, thus taking the t'nr1n (It a hnllmv Gone I),

the base of \vhivh 1na he (-nnvenientlv eon netted hy' standards E with a base I pref erahly (Fl magnetitmaterial and adapted to rein ilete the magnetic l'ltt'tllt from the ltnver end til the cure I). The supports 1* may under smne eiren nstant-es. eunstitltte magnetirwires. and 'as illustrative of tliisaeuil is hit"tt 'll in tltittttl tines at (i in Fig. l, although it will he nnt'lerstnod that the par tieular arrangement for exciting or produe ing the magnetie eireuit wit-h eonieal infernal and external terminals of opposite sign is not of paramount impurtanee, and may he varied to suit particular cunditinnsmr the ideas ni' partit-nlar desie'ners. Beth termiare mnvenientlr stationary in uperatam. altlnaigh in m'der to provide a ennvent nt and eil'u-ient means for adjusting the width at the lllilfittttlt' field nne (if said terminals is n'eterahly made atiljustz-thle with relation to the other, thus. as shown, the terminal A. tngrether with the core B, may

be adjusted vertirtally by the screw H adap ed to be operated by wheel 7:.

Located within .the air gap or magnetic tield is a rotary conc K of relatively thin l non-magnetic material. or of material havingr a very low susceptibility or perm-ability, l this cone K being conveniently journalcd on the noiradjustablc terminal, as for instance. by ball bearings 1. At its upper end it is in communication with or forms the entrance opening for the materials to be separated. As a preferred construction, the cone K is at the upper end, flared outwardly to form an enlargcn'icnt K provided with a horizontal diaphragm is having apertures near its periphery. The material to be separated is fed down from a hopper L to the centci" of the diaphragm 1c, being thence distributed by centrifugal action toward the periphery ot' the diaphragm Where it will drop by gravity through the apertures and thencev pass down into the niiagnetic field. in order to prevent entry of large pieces which might injure the separator, a flaring or dish shapcd screen M may be intrtaluced in the upper end of the entrant? apertu e for the cone and adapted to rotate therewith, whereby the larg" or heavy particles not passing through the screen will be discharged over the edge of the same. The feed from the hopper li may be regulated by a vertically adjustable sleeve L and power for rotating the nonmagnetic cone may be applied through a pulley N on the upper end of the said cone and a belt or other preferred form of geargearing, and a hand l ing such as indicated at N.

Susceptible or pern'ieaiilc material passing down through the magnetic field will ltattt' rally be attracted to a greater or less dtgree tpward that terminal of the n acin-tic ('ilcttit i upon which the magnetic lines of force converge, and inasmuch as in the present lil\(ll tion it is proposed to take advantage of momentum or centrifugal force to assist in the complete separation of the materials, provision is made for causing the lines of magnetic force to converge toward the outer terminal the means adapted preferably heing to subdivide the inner face of the outer terminal into a succession of ridges giving; a line distributirui at that side of the map; nctic licl l. Furthcrniorc, inasmuch as it is designed that with the present invention the magnetic force shall itself assist and he assisted both by centrifugal force and by gravity in feeding the material toward the! discharge point, the said inner surface of the outer terminal is preferably arranged in the form of a spirol projection or rib (1 The i accompanying illustration shows a sh glc spiral, but it is UlHltJllri that two or more spirals may be employed \vhcrc the pitch is 1 to be incrcascd, thus pcrmitt ing of relatively i tine graduations or distances bctwccn ad ia cent crests in a vertical line. With this an l rangcnient the rotary non-magnetic cone is preferably lrgated in proximity to the face i-l t he onlcl terminal. leaving the major por tion of the free air gap between the rotary cone and the inner terminal.

At the largrr or dis harge cud of the cone the air gap is divided by an annular partition on one side of which the more susceptible or permea le material is adapted to be discharged while the nnall 'cctml or less permeable material is discharged on the op positc or inner side of the said partition, the partition thus forming in effect separate hoppers in the bottom of which discharge openings 0 may be located.

111 o icration thc comminnted material fed from the hopper into the entrance end of the 'rotary cone drops down into the mag:- nctic field between the terminals of the magnot'ic circuit. and owing to the increasing surface area toward the discharge end, the aid material at once licgii to attenuate, and while the full capacity of the entrance end may be fed to thc scparator the material at the discharge end is so distributed that every possible particle of pcruu-able or suscep ible material is cllcctually relieved from its entanglement with less pcrmcahleor sns ccptible material, and is frcc to move under the influence of the lines of magnetic force toward the rotary cone.

Tn its travel through the magnetic field, the material is subjected to the action of a great number of successive converging fields of magnetic force and is being constantly rolled and agitated in its passage over the inner conical surface. Material which has yielded to the influence of the magnetic lines of force and moved toward or against the inner face of the rotary cone at once feels the intlucncc of centrifugal force which tends first to hold the material against said surface, and secondly by reason of the dixcrg'cnt walls to cause said material to feed toward the lai'ificr cud of the cone. The dircction of the spiral on the inner face of the outcr tcrminal with relation to the direction of rotation of the cone is such that material hcld against the inner face of the rotary conc is onstantly drawn more tightly :lgnlth-l said face and the line of attraction with rcs 'ic t to any particular point on the cone moves constantly downward or toward the discharge end, thus the nnlguctic pressure also tends to move the susceptible material toward the discharge end, and in this respect acts in concert with both centrifugal force and gravity.

ll will he noted that the matcrial passing through the separator is suhjcctcd fora prolonged period to the action ot. a sustalned r: ignctic ticld, that is to say, the magnetic field does not, as heretofore, rapidly decrcasc in intensity after a point of major separation has been passed, but the magnetic field as a Whole extends With practically a uniform intensity throughout the major portion of the distance from the top to the bottom of the cones, although it will be understood that owing to special designing and the tendency'of the magnetic lines of force to follow the paths of least resistance, the intensity of the field may Vary somewhat at different points, yet this is of small moment.

The inclination of the faces of the conical members with respect to the horizon is greater than the angle of repose of the material passing through under the influence of gravity, with the result that a fixed inner member may be employed over which the material will flow freely by gravity alone. As a further result of the inclination of the inner face of the rotary member, material once contacting therewith will be held by centrifugal force if aided by even a weak magnetic attraction and in its progress toward the discharge point under the influence of centrifugal force magnetic attraction and gravity it-will travel over the surface of the rotary member in a spiral path, the length of which is many times the direct distance from the entrance to the discharge, whereby the non-susceptible material is effectually shaken out or disentangled from the susceptible material.

Having thus described the invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters-Patent, is:

1. In a magnetic separator, the combination with a conical ma etic pole piece having its exterior conical face inclined to the vertical at an angle greater than the angle of repose of the material tobe separated, whereby the material will flow down over said surface by gravity al0ne,,of a conical {rotary member of non-magnetic material surrounding said pole piece and uniformly spaced therefrom to form a conical passa eway for the material to be separated, ant a fixed conical pole piece surrounding and in proximity to the rotary member, the construction being such that the lines of magnetic force converge toward the outer fixed pole piece.

QIIn a magnetic separator, the combination with a conical magnetic pole piece having an exterior conical face inclined at an angle greater than the angle of repose of the material to be separated, whereby the material will flow down over said surface by gravity alone, of'a conical rotary member of non-magnetic material surrounding said pole piece and spaced therefrom to form a conical passa eway for the material to be separated, a xed conical magnetic pole piece surrounding and in proximity to the rotary member and having its inner face serrated whereby the lines of magnetic force are caused to converge outwardly and an annular partition inter )osed between the base of the inner conica pole piece and in ner face of the rotary member, whereby the material passin downwardly in proximity to said faces wi 1 be separated in accordance with the magnetic susceptibility of the ma terial.

3. In a magnetic separator, the combination with a fixed conical magnetic pole piece having its exterior conical face inclined at an angle greater than the angle of repose of the material to be separated, whereby the material will flow down over said face by gravity alone, of a conical rotary member of non-magnetic material surrounding said pole piece and spaced therefrom to form a conical passageway for the material to be separated, a fixed conical pole piece surrounding and in proximity to tie rotary member and having its inner face spirally serrated from top to bottom, whereby the lines of magnetic force converge toward the rotary member, and an annular partition interposed between the lower ends of the inner conical pole piece and rotary member, whereby the material is separated into an nular zones in accordance with its magnetic susceptibility, and the material of less susce itibihty will be advanced by gravity and su stantiall free from mechanical agitation while tlie more susceptible material will be advanced by magnetic action, centrifugal force and gravity combined.

JOSEPH \VEAIHERBY, JR. ANDREW J. DULL.

lVitnesses S. \V. FLEMING. BURTON L. Hirr. 

